Everybody that -really- doesn't want human cylons and religious cylons, please just quit watching now. I guarantee religion will continue to be a huge thread the rest of the season and will probably be one to the end of the series. Three years from now you won't still be here complaining about it like the Alias watchers who harp on Rambaldi year after year. Not like I watch Desperate Housewives and complain that there's infidelity and murder.

Showing the eyeglasses was definitely intended to show that they weren't hallucinating her. This episode and this weeks Lost both seem like throwaway eps to some but each moves the characters ahead to a point where the plot needs to go. Gaius had his trial by fire, is beyond any and all suspicion, is now doing the 'will of God' and that is all very vital before the end of the season.

Opinion on what lies ahead:

Next week is a fabulous episode in my view BTW, with what will be -the- most talked about ending beyond the finale. Actually, all the rest of the season (save one grating episode) is top notch, best stuff I've seen on TV in years.

The best part about the finale is that unlike most series, the writers seem unwilling to use the reset button and render the finale meaningless. I hate that about most series. If they follow through on the potential plotlines, next season will be completely unique and definitely not a rehash.

Year after year Fox has said things like that and then canceled shows days later. They try to spin the situation to avoid negative press. The show is very much in danger. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

There can still be answers, but no one unifying theory except for WHY the castaways are there. They're never going to get off, you realize. So the show will never be able to be explained in a single idea or sentence.

I realized that I really liked the show up until last night, so I consider that it's just that episode that pissed me off. That episode was about the mysteries, but these aren't going to be answered. The mysteries should be included peripherally, with real challenges at the forefront. This episode promised real answers but didn't deliver anything. IMHO it was the pacing/writing that made the episode suck enough to almost derail the show completely in my mind.

Big misstep. Ethan's buildup was great but the result felt tacked on. I don't mind Charlie killing him but it felt like a ploy by the writers with no real reason behind it.

Sorry, nothing about Lockdown's theory works in my view, the same reason the purgatory theory doesn't. These are finite concepts. It's like you're dreaming up a show written by M. Night Shmayalan. So say they're in purgatory, revealed at the end of the season. Great, now who cares to watch any more? What does any of it matter? Say it's some metaphysical setup to cure 'issues' and 'problems' in these characters. Okay, how do you reveal that EVER except in the last episode of the show? Cause then your show is over, no one cares. I sure hope the writers have thought up something besides a huge GOTCHA!

Networks want a show to last 8+ years. All these ideas sound like a miniseries.

Worst episode of Lost yet. Funny how opinions change. I honestly have little desire to even watch the show anymore. If I had a gun I would've shot the tv the moment they broke tension to insert the copier comedy scene. Horrible hack job editing. Honestly, drop the flashbacks. Everything was treading water, nothing really changed. I don't care if they string us along without answers, but the are NOT doing it well.

Same with Alias. Honestly, just watching these actors(Alias) go through the motions and tread water infuriates me.

Then Arrested Development is basically canceled in favor of American friggin Dad.

It's been quite a while, but if I remember right the part with the pirhana is very short - like 2-3 screens at most.

That said, the chapter 7 quest is really the only monotonous part of the game - you are supposed to go hunt for two people elsewhere in the world, and if you're like me and barely remember meeting one or both of them it can be a lot of running around.

The moon itself is okay (don't worry - it's not the last level). The scenery is some of the weakest in the game, but thankfully it's also fairly short. The game is definitely worth sticking out to the end!!

Alright, I just played some more but quit when Lord Crump shot 900 audience members at me and took about 30 health off. Tomorrow...

This is a great game, don't get me wrong. However I've been playing it for two weeks now and games get tiring to me if they take longer than that(they just do, every time) So I'm at Chapter 7 and I'm wondering if I should bother continuing? Most chapters have been pretty neat and different so far but Ice Piranhnas keep freezing me and I'm getting sick of it. So are Fahr mountain and the Moon worth it?

Back on track? It may be on a track, but it's a completely different one than it started on. As a viewer from day one, it was a moderately entertaining episode but it was simply a Buffy/Angel script shoehorned into Alias characters. Same for the next one, the Angel castoff writers trot out the good old 'character hallucinates and turns evil/hurts friends' script.

Too bad the show left the intrigue, plotline, and continuing story on the cutting room floor, leaving me with scraps. It's Sunday afternoon syndicated filler at the moment. There was no such thing as a throwaway episode in Season 1.

And before it's brought up, anyone who complains about Rambaldi never watched the show to begin with, cause he's been in it since the start.

I liked these better than the first two just because Jack got to do something. Still packed with retarded CTU workers and "significant looks". Joss Whedon can plan whole seasons and these fools can't plan more than six episodes? Time to get new writers.

The thing that pisses me off is that I thought dropping the old cast was an attempt to streamline it when in fact we still have the same old deadweight CTU workers. I don't want anybody but Jack Bauer! Why drop the people we know for five more losers who putz around the office asking each other to break through firewalls and collate TPS reports? Hopefully CTU will get blown up again tonight.

What is it with the girlfriend Denise though? The chick keeps calling me every damn day and bugging me, then when I do go and pick her up (bear in mind I have a ton of other things I'd rather be doing) I just take her to a fast food join and my relationship meter goes up just a little. Annoying! As such, I've just started ignoring her.

Devote an hour or so(real time) to -just- dating her. Then her bar won't go down and you can get your just rewards, then ignore her for the rest of the game.

What was the David Carradine part? I heard he was in there but never saw him. And if Jack turned out to be the big mastermind that would just rule all. For some reason, the idea that he's the one who's been pulling the strings all along is not only plausible, but would just kick all kinds of ass.

David Carradine was the monk from a season ago that told Sloane a secret and gave him a scroll. I think the secret was that Nadia was his daughter or something and then Sark or someone killed him this last season. I don't remember this season well because it was all pretty throw away besides a few specific episodes.

The show lost me last year once Vaughn's wife not surprisingly turned out to be Covenant and working with Quentin. At that point, I stopped watching. So, what all happened in the meantime? How did they resolve Lauren and Vaughn? Did Quentin show up again? Rimbaldi updates - were there more? Anyone?

this is exactly where I quit as well. Could anyone briefly fill us in?

SUper quick recap:

Quentin did show up again.

Sydney has a sister named Nadia, she is also hot, the old Rambaldi prophecy about 'utter desolation' is likely about her, all the artifacts basically lead to her and Sloane's DNA was involved. May be Sloan's daughter insteadof Jack's(lots of misleading facts here, only the viewers really question that she's not Jack's).

Vaughn turned into Jack(at least that's the road they're heading) by getting a sniper rifle and capping his blushing bride. Of course she also fell down a big hole so there's no body. Let's all pray she's dead though.

Sydney put some clues together and realized that most everything that's happened to her was somehow controlled by her father and there's some unexplained evidence that he's the mastermind behind everything and anything, or something like that that. That's how the season ended so we really don't know.

Expect some drama. I'm sure someone else will give you some more details. It was all pretty lame last season though the above three developments made it worthwhile. Oh yeah and Bill(David Carradine) got killed.

I look at it this way. One game is about combat, one game is about adventure. Farcry can throw you into skirmish after skirmish but I didn't play past even one of them without getting sick of it. HL2 takes you to many different areas and the goal is not to fight better and smarter AI but to simply survive and continue on. Halo is basically the same thing as Farcry. They both model combat well. HL2 is not about that to me.

You might be using the analog stick to sneak, but you need to use the directional pad. IMHO this was a stupid design decision. But anyways, I think the game gets easier as you progress, or rather enemies begin to be in better, easier to access positions. Keep at it a while.

In other news I beat the game, and overall I guess the sum was more than its parts. Many things annoyed me but just as many things were very enjoyable. Coming from someone who beat MGS2 while despising it that's pretty good praise.

If MGS4 can combine the understandable storyline, great quanitity of gameplay and action, with a more functional camera system it could be one of the best games ever. Many times I felt the camera was making the game artifically difficult and that's bad design(#1 example: The Fury, since only from one direction could you actually see without 1st person view). BTW the L1 button does not let you strafe but the R3 trick did in fact help me a little(too far in the game for it to be useful).

I didn't/don't know about either of those things. I'll have to try that when I get a chance. Like I said, I have no manual and not much ingame instruction. It would be pretty funny if that fixed my major qualms about the game!

Alright, I passed that guy and the next guy. Anyways, I like the game, in theory. In execution I still can't stand the inability to strafe and the camera that never goes where I want it to. Playing the game is still frustating because of these two things. However, the story is not as insanely ridiculous as the last game and the actual variety and quantity of gameplay is finally substantial! I'd probably give it an 8.0 overall.

Hey, I'm up to "The End". I was enjoying this battle until I found him sleeping, shot him three times, instantly caught him running, shot him a few times, and 10 seconds later was instakilled for being in FPV for too long. Absolute crap. Now, if I make my way back there will he still have only a tiny bit of health left or will he have healed?

BTW, I really really really hate the reality/save tricks. I read that I'm forced to beat him soon or it resets his life? Again, crap. I don't want anything to do with this game tonight but I guess I'm forced to. Time for a breather.

The thing I missed the first time is the fact that you have to use the D-Pad. Its a new "stalking" move- it drains stamina while you do it but you will sneak up on an enemy undetetected. Using the walk mode with the analog stick is not the same and will usually result in being detected.

Yeah, that's what I was missing. I don't think they tell you this anywhere, I listened to all the codecs. They don't tell you any of that other stuff either unless it's in an extra one that I missed.

I made it a little ways past meeting Eva without knowing this. I hope the game is more fun now that I know. It was pissing me off that I couldn't stalk no matter how slow I went.

I rented this game finally and I'm finding it completely frustating because it didn't come with a manual and ingame they don't tell you controls. I dunno how CQC is supposed to work but I can't kill a single enemy stealth-wise. I'd like to sneak up from behind and chokehold or backstab but enemies spot me no matter how slow I go.

So how the hell do I backstab/chokehold, whatever(I had this same problem in the last two games)? I can't even pass the bridge.

I think the island is effecting each survivor in a different way and as the season progresses they will come to realize this. For instance, I don't think anyone besides the kid can have their wishes fufilled. However Jack has become a healer, with the island enhancing his innate skills. Locke is going to be the balance between good and evil, sort of a chaos bringer that will tip the scales either way whenever it is needed. I don't know much about the rest.

Ok, I'm stuck in a room where the Strider in the tunnel chased me. It's pacing back an forth taking pot shots at me through the windows. There are also annoying scanners flashing regularly although they are good for batteries.

I can see no way out of this mess other than trying to outrun daddy long legs :wink: . I figure I have to go up but the only stairwell is blocked with rubble.

If anybody has a clue as to where I am could you please tell me how to how to get out of this mess.

BTW, this is the Strider section of "follow Freeman".

You need to keep moving up the building until you get to the top floor (using fallen beams, etc). Then go across the top floor until you reach a box of rockets.

Uhh..the problem being there are no fallen beams in this room. The only opening is on the left side of the ceiling and is to high to reach. There are no long boards to use as a ramp. The only thing available for stacking are three barrels which still don't reach high enough even if I could jump on top of them which I can't.

Guess I'll just pack it in and wait for a "fly mode cheat".

Thanks anyway!

If this room has a tv in one corner then I got stuck there as well, however you can't do anyhting here. The route lies elsewhere.

I think this is pointless to question. Both Charlie and Claire come to the same conclusion and it's the most interesting and far-reaching one:that the psychic knew about the plane crash. Whether he thought they would die or he thought she would be forced to raise the baby herself is another question. But having it turn out to be evil baby dealers really does't add anything to this story, y'know?

Well, it could add something if everyone's story was coincidence, but they all intrepreted it as something else. Sorta like in Signs, was that God or just coincidence?

What if Locke's 'cure' was a result of shock due to the crash but he thought the island cured him? What if Claire thought her baby was special in some way, but the plane crash was a coincidence that made the psychic seem omnipotent? What if Charlie thought he transcended his addiction by redeeming himself when in reality he was going to kick his habit anyway since he would eventually run out of drugs?

In this show, it seems nothing is what it looks like at first glance. So I think it's too simple, too pat of an answer, to say that the psychic went through that elaborate scheme simply to get Claire on the airplane. There's got to be something else going on there.

This was posted by a person on Straight DOpe's message board:

"I know it's not my place to define what should and shouldn't be speculated on, but there's a difference between speculating about what's left open by the writers and speculating in such a fashion that you're simply casting doubt on what they're trying to tell you."

That sums it up. To doubt everything the show directly tells us is basically futile.

edit: in the same vein of questioning coincidence, could it be that the psychic was trying to make some serious cash by getting Claire to sell her kid to HIS baby dealers, so he'd get a major finders fee? That the plane crash was not foreseen by him at all and in fact ruined his plans? So the kid would be just a kid, and not some evil thing that must be banished.

I think this is pointless to question. Both Charlie and Claire come to the same conclusion and it's the most interesting and far-reaching one:that the psychic knew about the plane crash. Whether he thought they would die or he thought she would be forced to raise the baby herself is another question. But having it turn out to be evil baby dealers really does't add anything to this story, y'know?

First off, Andrew, no apology needed. I didn't post more description because of my OWN long day and not really wanting to go into it. Basically Thin J just summed up my feelings on it so far. I definitely think I'll be getting 13.50 for KH on SYG.com and not trying to go any further.

I don't really get this. I recently grabbed Kingdom Hearts for five bucks and played up to and through ALice's world and so far it's rather boring. Does it get better? It seemed really lackluster up to that point.